SYLLABUS: ENGLISH 50: "ROMANTIC POETS"



Professor: Michael Gamer
Class meets: MWF noon in Bennett Hall, Room 222
Office and Phone: 203 Bennett Hall, (215) 898-7346
Office Hours: M 1-2, W 1-2:30, and by appt.
Julie Schutzman (WATU, schutzm@english): 4th Floor Bennett Hall, cubicle A-5. Hours to be announced.
Julie Schutzman's Mailbox: 4th Floor Bennett Hall
Katy Milligan's Office (WATU, kmilli@english): TBA
Katy Milligan's Mailbox: You can drop off mail at the Comp Lit Office, 420 Williams Hall.

BULKPACKS #1, #2, and #3:

At Wharton Reprographics, Wharton School. Phone: 8-7600.

TEXTS:

Available at Penn Book Center, 3726 Walnut, ph:222-7600.


COURSE DESCRIPTION

Students should note first and foremost that this class will run as an open discussion, and not as a lecture course. Its first 8 weeks will run as a typical survey in which we read individual poems by several poets of the Romantic Period (in this case, 1770-1841), paying special attention to historical and political context. Once we've become acquainted with the poetry and with the significant events and issues of the period, we will then do a second run-through of this same historical period. This time, however, we will not read individual poems but rather actual and entire collections of poetry that our writers published during their lifetimes: Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads (1798 and 1800 editions), Robinson's Lyrical Tales (1800), and Keats's Lamia (1820). The course also requires that you have an e-mail account and that you use it. There will be four short paragraphs, six listserv responses, two short essays, a long essay, and an annotated bibliography assignment. There will also be a comprehensive final exam.

Students may use this course to complete HALF the usual English 202 requirement. A second course in British poetry of either the 18th century or Victorian poetry is required.



COURSE CALENDAR


UNIT ONE: THE [UN]ENLIGHTENED SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL: POETRY AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION


NOTE: unless otherwise stated, you will find the poems in the McGann anthology, The New Oxford Book of Romantic Period Verse.



UNIT TWO: POETRY BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO



UNIT THREE: ROMANTIC BOOKS AND THE RECEPTION OF ROMANTICISM


MAY 1: PORTFOLIOS ARE DUE AT MY OFFICE BETWEEN 10:30 AND 4 PM. YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO HAND THEM IN EARLIER IN THE WEEK. LATE PORTFOLIOS WILL BE PENALIZED 1/3 OF A GRADE PER DAY LATE. PORTFOLIOS NOT HANDED IN BY MAY 8 WILL RECEIVE A FAILING GRADE.



COURSE POLICIES AND VITAL INFORMATION



COMPUTER INFORMATION:

The syllabus, all course handouts, and all other important info will be on-line.

Administrative Calendar



COURSE REQUIREMENTS



You are required to have an electronic mail account.

I do not require you to use the English gopher, the world wide web, or any of the internet, but an electronic mail account--and checking it at least a couple of times a week--is required. Until you send an electronic mail message to me, I will not consider you registered for the class, and I will drop those of you on the course lists who do not get electronic mail accounts. I do this because I will use electronic mail as my chief way of making course announcements, sending out reminders, and communicating with you.

Also, this course will have an electronic mailing list (known as a listserver) that will have all of our names on it. If you send a message to gamer50@dept.english.upenn.edu, your message will go to everyone in the class. This way, you will be able to do many things: 1) conduct discussions outside of class, 2) ask for information on what we did in class if you miss a meeting, 3) test paper ideas out on each other, 4) brainstorm regarding the final exam, etc. On the first day of class, I will, as part of our first assignment, get those of you who know about e-mail to take twenty minutes to teach those of you who don't know about e-mail how to use it. I AM MORE THAN WILLING TO SET UP GROUP APPOINTMENTS WITH YOU IN ORDER TO TEACH YOU HOW TO USE THIS TECHNOLOGY--so if you feel lost, you simply need to say so.

Attendance

AS THIS IS A 50-MINUTE CLASS, PLEASE SHOW UP ON TIME OR EVEN EARLY. Since I know that disasters happen unexpectedly during the semester, I allow you two absences. In other words, there's no such thing in this class as an "excused" absence. I don't want to know why you miss class; these two absences are your business. Missing more than two classes is equally your business, but it will significantly lower your grade, since it will inhibit your ability to contribute significantly to our discussions. You should count on 3-4 absences lowering your grade by 1/3 (B to B-, for example), 5-6 by 2/3 (B to C+), 7-8 by one full grade (B to C), etc.

Participation

This class will conduct itself as a discussion rather than a lecture. I say this now because I do not want anyone taking this class to expect it to be a lecture class. I do sometimes lecture for 5-15 minute stretches, but the bulk of our time will be spent in real discussion, and the topics of our discussion will be determined as much by your intellectual interests as by my own. This means that you should expect class periods to be intense and fun, a place to test out your own ideas about what we're reading. You can expect me to come in every class with 30 minutes of my own agenda planned; in turn, I will expect the 30 of you to have at least 20 minutes of questions, observations, and discoveries about the reading. Students who do not participate in our discussions will most likely see their final grade go down; the four or five students who end up carrying much of the burden of discussion will probably see their hard work reflected in their grade as well.

Most importantly, you should expect class discussion often to follow your interests and concerns as you voice them. Usually, I will ask those of you who have written paragraphs for that day to read your paragraphs aloud, as a way of beginning. I will expect the rest of you at least TO BRING IN ONE QUESTION that you want to ask the rest of us--and you should, when possible, choose interpretive questions ("I don't understand how these two passages can be part of the same poem") rather than factual questions ("When did Robinson write this?") In particular, I urge you to pay special attention to those points where you don't understand something in the reading--where you've tried to find out the answer for yourself and failed--because they are the most important for the class.


Reading and Writing Assignments

As this course is a lower-level, introductory course, I am assuming that you have little or no experience in reading poetry. Consequently, the reading load for this course is relatively light (averaging about 6 hours per week), and the writing load for this course is relatively heavy (six one-paragraph article summaries, three short one-paragraph discussion "instigators," five listserv responses, a periodical assignment, two short essays, and a longer essay with an annotated bibliography attached to it). Instructions concerning all of these assignments are below. Work that is graded during the semester is included under "Graded Work for This Course."



GRADED WORK FOR THIS COURSE



Your grade will be determined by three components: the quality of your in-class performance (including the six article summaries, the three paragraphs, and the six listserver responses, 20% of your grade), your performance on the final exam (30% of your grade), and the quality of the portfolio of work that you hand in at the end of the semester (50% of grade). These various assignments are listed and described below:


Late Work and Extensions

During the semester, I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE WORK. If you do not make a deadline, it does not directly affect your grade; you simply lose that opportunity for me to read your work and provide you with feedback. For example, if you miss the second paper deadline, you simply lose that opportunity for me to read your work and help you with feedback. I do this because I do not want anything to do with the hassles of students asking for extensions, bringing excuses, etc. I will only read each paper you write once before the portfolio. However, I am happy to discuss work in progress with you during my office hours or by appointment; and will be very happy to talk with you about an essay that I've commented upon. It is a good idea to bring in a draft with specific questions about it. It is much more instructive to discuss specific questions and writing problems in a draft than general, abstract questions concerning your writing.

Plagiarism

As I'm interested in what you think about this material, I do not like reading plagiarized work, and will fail any student who hands in plagiarized work for the course. If you have a question about whether you are plagiarizing something, definitely err on the side of caution and come ask me.